Wordpress: Migrating your blog to another server and/or domain

I've been putting this one off for a while because it seemed horribly tedious, but it's so awesome to find a plugin that does ALL the hard work for you.

I didn't need to upload my database onto another site to perform any string replacements. I didn't have to download the Wordpress installation package and set it up and import data. I didn't have to even log in as admin to back up MySQL or the FTP files.

I am honestly amazed at how easy this process is due to the plugin. It simply just works.

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It's so beautiful.

What you'll need

  • An existing Wordpress powered blog (Latest version at time of writing is v3.9.1)
  • Duplicator plugin for Wordpress (v0.5.6 at time of writing)
  • A new host/domain to host your new blog
  • About 15 minutes (not including time to download and upload the backup archive)

In Wordpress

  • Log into your admin and then go to Plugins
  • Add New
  • Search for "Duplicator" and install it
  • Once done, activate the plugin

Duplicator

There should now be a new "Duplicator" menu in your admin. Click on it.

  • "Create new" to create a new backup
  • Default settings are perfect, just click "Next" (unless you really needed to tweak something)
  • Let the scan do it's thing.
  • Check for any warnings or errors
  • (optional) Remove error_log files in ~/ or ~/wp-admin/ if they're too big or not worth keeping
  • Click build
  • And now wait...
  • Download the installer file
  • Download the archive (zip) from browser (or ftp in ~/wp-snapshots/). This is the second longest step in the process.

Web

I'm assuming you've done this already, but these are the generic steps. No help from me here.

  • Set up an account on your web host
  • (if needed) Point your new domain to that server
  • Make sure it has PHP and MySQL up and running
  • Set up a database for Wordpress
  • Set up FTP access so you can upload the backup archive and installer.php

FTP

  • Upload "installer.php" and your backup archive to the new server in ~/public_html/

This is the longest step in the whole process :(

Installation

  • In your browser of choice, go to http://yoursite.com/installer.php
  • Make sure it passes all the tests
  • Enter in the new database settings
  • Test connection to see if the database settings are OK to use
  • Click deploy

 

  • Make sure the new domain settings and file locations are correct
  • Make sure the right plugins are activated
  • (optional) Keep post GUIDs the same if you're using RSS for anything like automated sharing to Facebook or Twitter to avoid reposts
  • Click update
  • Check any errors or warnings.
  • Now you're all done! Celebrate on your success!

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Celebrating, Nicolas Cage style!

Wordpress Admin

A few last steps to tidy things up.

  • Log in to /wp-admin
  • There should be a notification saying that the Duplicator files are still hanging around. Remove them.
  • Disable the plugin
  • Try writing a draft post and attacking an image.
  • Donate to Cory Lamle, the author of Duplicator. He deserves it.
 
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